Earth ChangesS


Oscar

Costa Rica happiest place on planet


Press TV
Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:19 UTC
Costa Rica
© unknownCosta Rica's local farmers markets, proof of a green ecological footprint
Latin America tops a global ranking of ecological efficiency positioning Costa Rica as the world's happiest place to live.

The Happy Planet Index reveals a surprising picture of the relative wealth and progress of nations.

Latin America tops the Index with Costa Rica being termed the greenest and happiest country. Nine of the ten highest-scoring nations are Latin American.

The Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guatemala, Vietnam, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Brazil and Honduras stand second to tenth on the table of the happiest places of the planet.
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Bizarro Earth

Strong 6.0 magnitude earthquake shakes Panama


Agence France-Presse
Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:28 UTC
A strong earthquake measuring a magnitude of six shook Panama early Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of casuaties or damage, the US Geological Survey reported. The epicenter of the tremor, which occurred at 1:49 am (0649 GMT), was located 97 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of the capital Panama City.
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Bizarro Earth

Chinese floods kill 15, displace 550,000

Tom Miles
Reuters
Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:25 UTC
Beijing - Flooding and heavy rain in southern China have forced 550,000 people to evacuate their homes and killed at least 15, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

The heavy rains that have raged for four days across southern provinces have destroyed houses, flooded crops, cut power, damaged roads and caused rivers to overflow.
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Bizarro Earth

Northern Mexico hit by 6.0-magnitude earthquake


Xinhua
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:25 UTC
Northeastern Mexico's Sea of Cortez region was rocked by an earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale at around 5 a.m. local time (1100 GMT) on Friday.

By press time, there have been no reports of injuries or property damage. This was partly because the epicenter was out at sea, said the National Seismology Service, which is a unit of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Cities in the region, Baja California Sur capital La Paz and tourist town Los Cabos, felt a moderate tremor.
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Bizarro Earth

Earthquake of 5.0 magnitude shakes central Colombia


Xinhua
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:23 UTC
An earthquake of moderate intensity shook central Colombia early Friday morning, with no reports of casualties or damage, said the National Seismological Network of Colombia (NSNC).

The NSNC said the epicenter of the earthquake, measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale, was located in the municipality of Chaparral in the central department of Tolima, at a depth of 30 kilometers, which was considered superficial.

"Most cities in central Tolima, the southwestern departments of Valle del Cauca and Huila, and the mid-western departments of Risaralda and Quindio felt relatively strong shakes when the earthquake took place at local time 5:04 a.m. (1004 GMT)," said a spokesman of the NSNC.
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Sheeple

Scottish sheep are shrinking

Alan Harten
Fair Home
Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:31 UTC
Scientists made their 25th visit to the Scottish Island of Hirta in the Outer Hebrides to complete a study and made a stunning discovery; the sheep on the island were shrinking, literally.

Each year of the study the sheep shrank by 81g, about 5% of their body mass, and scientist think that this is because of climate change rather than natural adaptation.

Natural changes would have led to larger body sizes, not the smaller body mass that was exhibited.
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Camera

The Suspicious Science Behind Man-Made Global Warming

James Anderson
Minyanville
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:44 UTC
Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, had an op-ed in Monday's New York Times in which he called anyone who's skeptical of man-made global warming a "traitor to the Earth."

Now, I don't have a PhD in Economics (although I do have one in another field), nor do I have a Nobel Prize, but that accusation seems a bit over the top. Perhaps it's just another example of the growing societal acrimony frequently discussed on Minyanville.

I'd like to take a look at the evidence for global warming resulting from increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere: The argument is that more infrared radiation released by the Earth is captured given the higher concentration of CO2 in the air, thereby warming the planet. However, if you're looking for scientifically rigorous experiments linking CO2 to increased temperatures, I have bad news for you: It doesn't exist.
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Binoculars

US: Chicago has a rare chilly summer day

Tom Skilling
WGN
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:40 UTC
What has happened to summer? That was the question from many area residents Wednesday amid May-level 60-degree temperatures. The day's high of 65-degrees marked the chilliest open to a July here since 1930 and was one of the three coolest July 1 readings on the books in 139 years of weather records since 1871. Summer temperatures at that level are truly rare. Of 7,452 meteorological summer (June through August) highs on the books since 1928 at Midway, only 184 of them--just 2 percent---have registered temperature as cool or cooler.
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Cloud Lightning

Bangladesh floods strand half a million in their homes

Nizam Ahmed
Reuters
Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:13 UTC
Torrential rains triggered landslides and flash floods killing six people and stranding half a million in their homes in Bangladesh, officials said on Saturday. The landslides occurred near Habiganj district town, some 200 km (125 miles) northeast of the capital Dhaka Saturday, burying all six members of a family.

Officials said the situation had worsened at three other nearby districts, with some 500,000 people stranded at their homes as the rivers Surma and Khusiara, flowing into Bangladesh from northeastern India, burst their banks following incessant rains over the last four days.
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Binoculars

There is No Evidence by Dr. David Evans

Dr David Evans
Climate Realists
Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:51 UTC
ipcc predictions versus data
© unknown

Let's break down the case for human-caused global warming logically:
  1. There is plenty of evidence that global warming has been occurring recently.
  2. There is ample evidence that carbon emissions causes warming and that the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is increasing.
  3. But there is no evidence that carbon dioxide emissions are the main cause of the recent global warming.
The alarmists focus you entirely on the first two points, to distract you from the third. The public is increasingly aware of this misdirection. Yes, every emitted molecule of carbon dioxide (CO2) causes some warming - but the crucial question is how much warming do the CO2 emissions cause? If atmospheric CO2 levels doubled, would temperatures rise by 0.1, 1.0, or by 10.0C?
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